Crayons
by Banira
Summary: For a moment she wasn't sure what he was referring to. She realized what he meant when she glanced to the box of crayons propped in his hand. He was asking her to draw with him. The only problem was that Karin had no artist talent at all. Saika


**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto, not I, as well as all the characters here.**

**Another Saika, yes. You may thank the girl sitting next to me in English for randomly giving me a prompt. This was supposed to be for my collab with Hikari Adams, but it got a bit too long for a drabble. Anyways, enjoy!!**

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It was a gloomy afternoon in Konohagakure. The clouds were an unpleasant gray, trying to conceal the sun. The air was chilly and humid, keeping most indoors. For a savored moment, the sun peaked through the clouds and into a large window. The room itself was a pale green, a dark hardwood floor accenting it from below. There was a cherry wood desk, much like the color of the flooring, next to the window, covered with piles of papers, inks, colored pens, and other art materials. Randomly placed around the room were paintings of various assortments, some finished and others left waiting.

Sitting at the reddish desk was a pale man with midnight hair and eyes. His charcoal eyes were staring blankly at an equally blank sheet of paper. He had been sitting there for what had to be more than a half an hour, trying to gain the inspiration for the black paintbrush in his hand.

Behind him the door opened with a slight crack. A woman with wine eyes came in holding a brown paper bag. As he turned around to look at her, she stood still, clutching the bag tighter making it crunch.

"I remembered when you said you were out of your colored inks," she began nervously, "and I saw these today…here, just take them!" she reverted back to her usual personality and flung the bag towards him.

It landed about a foot away from him, and he only watched it as if it were about to do a trick. Waiting for him to respond, she stood by the doorway. After a moment of nothing, she turned around about to leave. A voice stopped her though.

"Thank you…Karin-san," his voice was sincere, not the usual fake plastic he used. It wasn't often, if at all, he received a gift from the stubborn woman. He would take what he got, as long as he remained unharmed.

When Karin turned back, she saw that Sai was observing a little yellow box in one hand, while the other holding the brown paper bag loosely in the other. Carefully, his pale hands opened the cardboard lid and pulled out one colored object. A soft green surface had a paper of the same color wrapped around the object with the word 'Crayon' in a bold black.

Her gift seemed to have been a success, she mused. She wasn't sure why she had picked up the little box, she had merely glanced at it and an image of the enigmatic artist flashed in her head. In fact, the foreign woman hadn't even been shopping; she had run into the store to escape. The Uchiha had been following the Godaime's beloved, though at this moment oblivious, apprentice like a lost puppy dog. They were about to pass her, and Karin panicked and ran. She did not want to face them, for she was too embarrassed. Sasuke completely ignored her and followed the pink haired girl like the bright red had done to him. Whenever Sakura was around, she felt insignificant. The medic was not unkind towards her, quite the opposite, but she gave off an aura of superiority that made Karin want to disappear.

It was his next statement that truly surprised her.

"Would you perhaps like to try?"

For a moment she wasn't sure what his plain, yet smooth voice was referring to. She realized what he meant when she glanced to the box of crayons propped in his hand. He was asking her to draw with him.

It made her slightly uneasy, she really had no artistic talent whatsoever. She had tried painting with him once, but she was certain that more of the paint had ended up on the surrounding area then on the canvas. She was weary, but decided crayons couldn't be too bad, as they couldn't spill.

Upon her agreement, Sai pulled out two pieces of thick white paper, probably from a sketchbook. He motioned her over and set the paper on the hardwood floor. As she walked over and bent down, he sat down as well, legs crossed. He then simply set down the yellow box that held a rainbow.

So far she was good, she thought, but she was also lost. She knew what to do with the crayons of course. Well, the concept at least.

"What do I draw?"

He looked up from his work, a red crayon in hand. It must have seemed like a peculiar question to an artist like him, who knew what to do.

"Anything. Whatever it is in your mind," he said matter-of-factly.

Karin decided to remain quiet and linger in his words. Anything in her mind, what did she usually think about? Her thoughts were usually occupied by that rock of a man irritating her. Should she draw Sai then? A silent blush told her she shouldn't attempt such a detailed portrait. Besides, she pondered as she watched his arm glide over the paper, a person would be too difficult. His advice made no sense, she huffed inwardly, that rock didn't know how to explain anything correctly without emotions.

Inspiration struck her at that thought. It was easy to draw, and symbolized what was always on her mind. She grabbed the dreary colors of gray and black. Not as swiftly as the man next to her, she ran her crayon down the paper.

It was decided; Karin was going to draw a rock.

It was about twenty minutes later when they both stopped. Eagerly, Karin looked over to see Sai lift his head and drop a green crayon as if signaling his completion. She quickly became distraught as she compared his work to hers.

He had drawn a gladiolus, an elegant red, blooming across the paper. Different strokes of pressure had added shading, adding a realistic look. She idly wondered how it was possible to draw something that incredible with only crayons. Hers had turned out much differently. There was no definite shape, and they gray and black mixed everywhere without balance.

"Is that a black hole?" Sai asked, seemingly innocent. Fury built up in her chest along with a mixture of embarrassment.

"No!" she half exclaimed. Her face growing a light pink, she quietly murmured, "It's a rock."

It came to her, as she watched his expression carefully, that a drawing of a rock was not much better.

"Ah," he replied then smiled, "I like it."

His response had surprised her, no doubt in that. She never knew what he was thinking, just like a rock. Her comparison was quite accurate.

"You can have it, I didn't put in any effort anyways," she said off handedly. Really, she was silently rejoicing that he liked it, for reasons unknown to her, but that did mean her art skills weren't as bad as she thought.

"Thank you, Karin-san," he smiled again.

"Whatever," she yawned and walked out of the room. Outside, she placed a hand on her cheek and cursed the heat that adorned her face.

The next day when she went into his room to remove the laundry he supposedly forgot to pick up, she noticed the new item on his desk. There on the stand, was her drawing of the rock.

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**In my opinion, I think the dysfunctionality just makes it cute. I hope it came off that way. **

**Thanks so much to my wonderful beta Hikari Adams for beta-ing!! If you liked Saika, check out hers, they're great!**

**If you liked it, go ahead and leave a review...and let me know if I'm coming off insane for pairing Sai and Karin.**

**-Banira  
**


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